


Day 28: Roses

by GemmaRose



Series: Femslash February 2018 [27]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types
Genre: Alchemy, Alkahestry, Crushes, F/F, Post-Canon, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 19:01:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13841034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: She didn't mean to make it into topiary, honest.





	Day 28: Roses

“What does this one do?”

Fletcher yelped, jerking back as a figure entered her field of vision. Crouched as she was, she toppled over on her ass in the dirt, and felt her face immediately start burning as she realized who had intruded on her solitude. The Chang Princess, a member of the alchemy-alkahestry research team, one of the Emperor-to-be’s personal friends, and the cutest girl Fletcher had seen in a long time. A cute girl whose cute face was starting to look concerned, and Fletcher realized she hadn’t answered yet.

“Oh! Uh, this array?” she pushed herself back up into a crouch, looking down at the circle drawn in the topsoil around two small mounds of dirt. “It’s a kinda theoretical mix of alkahestry and botanical alchemy, but it should make the plants inside it grow faster. If it works.”

“Oh, so you’re testing it?” the Princess crouched on the opposite side of the circle, Fletcher could see her pink skirt just centimeters from the outermost lines of the array. “Can I watch?”

Fletcher swallowed hard, and nodded. “Yeah, sure.” she placed her palms flat to the ground, fingers barely brushing the fragile lines of the array. The goal here was to make the bushes grow fast, not to make them grow in a specific shape. She didn’t need them forming a heart or a giant rose or some other silly shape, her dumb crush was her own business and nobody else’s. Closing her eyes, she activated the array, threading her own energy into the lines as a draw for the draconic tectonics which would power the majority of the transmutation. God, she _really_ hoped this didn’t blow up in her face. Failure was bad enough without a girl as cute as Princess Chang watching.

Bright light flashed against her closed eyelids, and she cracked one eye open to see blue lightning dancing around the array. The soil within the circle heaved, and Fletcher’s eyes flicked to her audience a split second before her view was obstructed. Mei looked, well, enraptured was the only word short of beautiful which she could think of. Then the bushes sprouted and began to grow, hardy stems sprouting fresh green leaves and flowers in every shade between snowy white and vibrant crimson.

When the bushes were grown, Fletcher removed her hands from the ground. The blue light sputtered and died, the array sparking feebly for a second more before it went dark, and she looked up at her achievement with a grin. A grin that only lasted for a heartbeat and a half before she registered the way the rose bushes had twined together, growing into something that looked almost like a single bush. A single bush with a very distinctive shape.

“That’s amazing!” Princess Chang exclaimed from the other side of the intertwined plants. “If you can stabilise this for large-scale application, it could help with everything from landscaping to food shortages!”

“I- thank you.” Fletcher stood as Princess Chang rounded the impromptu topiary, brushing her hands off on her pants. “It’s an honour to hear that from you, your highness.” she gave a polite half-bow, and Princess Chang giggled.

“Please, call me Mei.” she smiled, warm and sunny, and Fletcher was momentarily tempted to throw herself into the rose bushes because this just wasn’t _fair_ , how could one person be this _cute_?

“I’ll look forwards to your practical demonstration at our next research meeting.” Mei continued, waving courteously as she turned to head back to the main building.

“I, uh, yeah. Same.” Fletcher said awkwardly, turning to look at the meter-and-a-half tall heart made by the twin bushes. She should probably find something less gay to transmute for the practical example.


End file.
